Who is the 13.3″ Macbook Pro ideal for?

Anyone who wants a laptop that’s solid, light weight, with an excellent battery life, great backlit keyboard and trackpad and an higher CPU performance than the Macbook Air, without the bulk nor requirement of the higher performance of the Macbook Pro 15.6″.

Very quiet: The fan is hardly audible, unless you push the CPU to 100% for a long time.

Long battery life: 9 hours of web browsing

Solid chassis: All-aluminum unibody

Solid screen hinge

Excellent trackpad, with great multi-touch support

MagSafe power connector which automatically detaches from your laptop if you pull on it, preventing your Macbook from accidentally falling if you trip on the power cord.

Bluetooth 4.0

Latest generation 802.11ac WiFi

Why you might not want the 13.3″ Macbook Pro: Cons

Somewhat expensive: Starting at $1199.99; the Macbook Air is more affordable.

Good, but not the best CPU performance: The Macbook Pro 13.3″ is equipped with a dual-core CPU. For the highest performance, you’ll want the 15.6″ Macbook Pro, equipped with a quad-core CPU. Great for web browsing, music, Office work and lightweight programs. Not ideal for heavy photo/video editing, heavy multitasking or demanding programs where high sustained CPU performance is required. You’ll want a more powerful CPU and possibly more RAM for better performance, so consider a Macbook Pro instead.

Limited GPU (video card) performance. Forget playing modern video games or 3D rendering: you want a dedicated video card for that. Once again, a Macbook Pro 15.6″ would be a better option.

No LAN port. You can a USB adapter for 10/100 speed, or a Thunderbolt adapter for Gigabit speed.

No optical drive. You can get an external USB powered optical drive, if you want to.

No Numpad

The Macbook Pro RAM cannot be upgraded: It’s soldered. The SSD storage can be upgraded if you have the right tool, don’t mind following a guide to disassemble your Macbook Pro and a guide to copy your data.

1. Intel Core i5 2.7-3.1GHz, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage

A good choice if you want a Macbook Pro at the lowest price possible. You do get the lowest CPU, only 128GB of storage and only 4GB of RAM, which is fine for web browsing, e-mail and basic Office work.

A good choice if you want the second highest performance CPU available for the Macbook Pro 13.3″, with 16GB of RAM. You only get 128GB of storage, so if you want more performance and/or more storage, keep scrolling.

Want the fastest CPU available in the Macbook Pro 13.3″ with 16GB of RAM? This is the least expensive option, with 128GB of storage. If you want more storage capacity, scroll down to alternative models below.

About The Author

HR Founder - Computer expert with over 16 years of experience in building, fixing and modifying PCs.
Over the years, I’ve developed a passion for PC hardware and now I enjoy helping others build their own PCs!
In April 2008, I launched Hardware Revolution and ... Read more at my about page

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